Judge orders Buenos Aires nightclubs to close after drug deaths

Judge Roberto Gallardo orders all Buenos Aires nightclubs to remain closed until they have set up proper health and safety systems 

The Time Warp electronic music festival ended two weeks ago with five people dead and five more in hospital
The Time Warp electronic music festival ended two weeks ago with five people dead and five more in hospital

A judge in the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires has banned nightclubs from opening until they have set up proper health and safety systems.

Roberto Gallardo delivered his ruling in response to the drug-related deaths of five people at a music festival earlier this month.

He said there was "a landscape of impunity and lack of state control with respect to nocturnal activities".

He called on the city government of Buenos Aires to establish a plan of action for its inspectors and police forces to enforce laws prohibiting the consumption in public of drugs.

The judge said he wanted to see a timetable of inspections and a plan of action "for the short-, medium- and long term.

Until this was done, "all dancing to recorded or live music was banned until the order was carried out."

The head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodriguez Larretta, said he disagreed with the judge's decision:

"There are thousands of people who enjoy themselves in a healthy way every night and we are going to defend them,” he said.

"We are asking the judiciary to revoke the ban so we can lift this suspension today."

"We are concerned with addiction, but this doesn't mean we literally have to close down the whole of the city's nightlife."

A nightclub owners association, the Chamber of Dance Venues in Buenos Aires, said they would defy the ban that they decried as "unconstitutional".